Ropes Creek railway line, Sydney
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The Ropes Creek Line is a closed railway line in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia.
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[edit] History
The Ropes Creek Line was named after a nearby creek bearing the same name. It's main purpose was to transport military ammunitions and munitions factory workers to and from St Marys during World War II. The line opened from St Marys station to Dunheved on the 1 March 1942 and Dunheved to Ropes Creek on the 29 June 1942. When electrification arrived in the 1950s, a plan was made to include electrifying the Ropes Creek Line. While the line was being electrified, a new station was built and opened on the 2 September 1957 and named Cochrane. Towards the end of train operation on the line, there were freight wagons shunted into the Sims Metal plant which is about 2 kilometres from the junction with the Main West line and one passenger train in the morning and one in the afternoon was the norm. This train was mostly formed by a 4 car single deck suburban train locally known as a Red Rattler.
The line was closed to passenger rail traffic with a down turn of passengers in the early 1980's but stayed open to freight traffic for Sims Metal, but when this was then switched to road traffic the line closed. The line then laid idle for a few years, but with major trackwork around Penrith the line was reopened so suburban trains could be stabled at Dunheved in the 4 track yard plus in platform 2 or the Down Branch track. After trackwork was completed at Penrith the line was then closed forever on the 22 March 1986 and not long after that the overhead power supply and most of the copper components of the overhead catenary was removed.
A compound was constructed on the down branch and down No. 1 siding, and 2 suburban train carriages where stored there for use by the NSW Fire Brigade for training purposes, the first was Comeng motor car C3866 and the second was Goninan Tangara car N5127. Pictures here These cars and the compound didn't last long because of the local vandal community who destroyed both carriages. Rails on the branch were still there in 1996 but by 2001 the rails were starting to be lifted, the first part of the line to be lifted was the area outside Sims Metal for the extension of Christie St between Dunheved Rd & across South Creek, outside Sims Metal. The next part wasn't lifted but was covered with tar and concrete, was the Links Rd level crossing. Things that do exist today at Dunheved are the footbridge and island platform and platform steps.
[edit] Station Buildings
The station buildings along the line were build from different materials.
- Dunheved was a prefabricated concrete building which the Station Masters office/Booking Office was destroyed by fire when vandals broke in and set it on fire (date is currently unknown). It had a 30 lever frame to operate signals and points.
- Cochrane This station was classed as unattended with no booking office facilities and with a roadway bridge over the middle of the station it and had a waiting room on platform 1 (up branch) and awnings over both platforms.
- Ropes Creek The station was of weatherboard construction, commonly used at the time by the NSWGR. It had a 35 lever frame to operate signals and points.
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